Marketing Marketing
2. Do I have a "good ear?" One of the most common problems that beginning MTs have is understanding the ordinary words of the doctors, as they may be chewing tobacco, sucking on candy, eating, burping, etc., through their dictation. They may just be plain tired, and they may be prone to slur or mumble. If you find that you have a habit of asking people "Huh, what did you say?" a lot, then transcription is going to be a tough route. Then you have the ESL or English as a Second Language doctors. Need I say more on THAT one?
3. Do I LOVE to read and research? An MT is constantly looking up new words for procedures, surgeries, medications, tools, conditions, etc. You have probably seen the weekly postings of new terminology right here. As an MT, you will have to get used to the fact that you will never stop learning. That can be both exciting for some, and frustrating for others as the tendency for most people is to hurry up and learn just enough to get going without the committment to improving their skills.
4. Related to the above (esp. for an IMT), do I have the resources to invest in this career move? Is my computer at least capable of operating a word processor such as WPDOS 5.1 (often held as the word processor of choice due to its features and speed)? Does it have basic communications capabilities, fax and modem 9600+, a good communication program, etc.? What about a transcriber? Are microcassettes, standard tapes, or digital dictation prevalent in my area? Will I have the funds to invest in not only an education program, but also in the MANY reference books that I will need?
Do I have the time to invest in the study required for a change such as this one? If you have other things in your daily schedule, you will have to buy out the time from some of them to incorporate your educational needs.
5. Do I have young children at home? This is kind of a touchy area, and some are going to disagree with me. Going through both a home schooling program for MT, and then trying to work from home immediately afterwords, while raising small children is not going to be the sunshiny picnic that many expect. You are going to need every bit as much a schedule (certainly not an iron rigid schedule; otherwise, why do this from home) at home as you would have outside. Taking on these responsibilities at the same time as caring for young ones is a stress. It may be one you can handle. But realistically analyze YOUR attitude on this. Analyze YOUR children's behavior honestly (if you have any).
6. Do I have a mentor or guru in this field that I can rely upon to help me? You are going to have many questions. You will need support. Because MTing is so specialized, not many people are going to be able to help you out. If you are working from home, you may feel isolated. Thank goodness for online services and the Internet, which allows IMTs to network and communicate!
7. If I am going to eventually be an independent worker, do I have the go-get-em' attitude required to land my own accounts? This is e specially needed to inspire the doctor's or office's confidence in a newly released transcriptionist.
8. What do I want out of this career change? Money? Of course, transcription, when done right, can be a very satisfying source of income. However, I don't know of any rich people who got that way by transcribing. Am I looking for a way to avoid aggravation? Well, there may be some surprises here, too. Of course, aggravation is an attitude and state of mind, not a situation. Am I looking for a way to control my time? This will come, IN TIME. Do not expect that your life will be free and easy in the early stages. What you do with your time will depend on your patterns as a person, as well as the type of accounts you have, be they your own or your working in an office setting.
It is nice to have a partner to study with, but remember the above question about your guru. Gurus sometimes don't mind taking in one lost chick into their nest. But two baby birds are hard to raise. This is not to discourage her. If you can both keep upbeat about things, then GREAT! But teaching one another will require an unsual amount of devotion to MTing, and a great deal of patience. Count the costs of being a self-starter, and count them again when you multiply those costs by two.
Having said all of that, I really hope that you stick around and share what you learn with us. No one knows it all, but all of us know something, right? Most of all, if you do decide to get involved in MT, enjoy yourself.
I've read the tales of frustration and woe from these intelligent people who have invested hard-earned dollars in transcription courses and schools, only to be either turned away at the gate or offered a pittance to do this work. Even if given an opportunity to perform, there are some experienced MTs who extol the need for paying one's dues before working.
Getting a job in MT is more than just being trained; it's a matter of marketing. Overcoming objections and charming the prospective employer/client is every bit as important as being experienced, perhaps more so. It's most important to emphasize what you can do, not what you lack in experience. Your poise and abilities in grammar, spelling and communication are most important. Be sure to have a positive attitude and express that you are interested, intelligent and trained, and that you want to work. You must sell yourself, but be sure that you can transcribe also. Go to the bookstore or library and get pointers on marketing yourself. Create brochures, mailers, business cards, letters of introduction, letters of recommendation and examples of transcription (even if only from your courses). Do sales blitzes. Call or write dozens and dozens of prospective employers and KEEP BUGGING THEM! Let them know that you want their business and that you can't be daunted. Sell yourself!
Try specializing, also. Certain parts of your MT courses were of more interest than others. Go for what interests you. Remember that the transcription services aim for large hospitals and large practices. You should go for the single-physician offices where the office nurse is also the transcriptionist. Try osteopaths' offices, alcohol and drug rehabilitation services, state and county social services, medical examiners' offices, walk-in clinics, specialty areas in university medical schools, and hospices. Check with your county medical associations for lists physician's names and addresses. Aim for certain segments of the medical profession: podiatrists and pathologists, and any place that the services overlook.
Above all, don't admit to being inexperienced generally, although it's quite okay to admit to being inexperienced in a particular specialty. You have dedication, interest, training, mechanical abilities (typing), you're a quick study and a hard worker, etc. Focus on that, not on your being a neophyte. If you don't hear back after an interview, call them or go back in person and ask point blank why they didn't hire you. Remember, this relates to your income, so don't be intimidated. Offer to work for a day or so for free, or offer to do some transcription for free, just so they'll see that you are perfect for them.
There are people (mainly transcriptionists) who think that you have to have years and years of experience at starvation wages to do this work. Not so! But, your marketing abilities are most important, and of course you must be able to transcribe effectively.
In our experience, marketing is one of the primary skills a transcriptionist needs. With the right tools one could highlight all of the positives, and then some: why this office NEEDS to have you transcribing for them, what they're missing if they don't hire you, what advantages there would be to utilizing YOUR service.
Whatever word processor you use, if it's one with lots of capabilities, you should be able to design for yourself a beautiful business card and brochure or flyer. This is key to the way that we've landed each of our accounts. We not only have something to talk about and leave with the practice on our first visit, but we also have a reason for visiting again and highlighting a particular aspect mentioned in that brochure. Seeing your face twice, a third time, and so forth (not necessarily every WEEK; don't oversell), will make them a bit more comfortable with why you're there, and you may even be able to develop a certain rapport with the staff on hand. This is good because what you are selling is YOURSELF, not necessarily your skill.
Some things that you might want to emphasize in your brochure:
1. You offer a service that never misses a deadline.
2. Fast turnaround time availability.
3. Quality of the transcription that you promise to deliver.
4. The type of equipment that you use.
5. Confidentiality and security of data.
6. You're a good person to work with! They'll LIKE you.
Dwelling on the positives in this way shows them your confidence in yourself, and that's important. Show them this confidence, too, by the way you dress when cold-calling. Don't dress too casually when calling at a professional's office. It will allow you to get in the door without disapproving stares. Remember, this is your work uniform, as far as they KNOW. You can through the sweats and robe back on when you're typing at home, after you've landed the account.
Be positive, don't give up. It just takes time.
Whenever a new article touting the wonders and joys of the MT field appears in a magazine, I start getting calls from wannabes. Usually they have no clue regarding the difficulty of what we do, they just want that "upwards of $35,000 per year" that they've read about. After almost 24 years, there are still days where my hourly wage has dropped below $10 because of one or two accounts which drag me down. I started for peanuts way back when, at a transcription service and while they made a lot of money off me, I gleaned an education from them. I recommend such a setting for anyone trying to break into MT, thinking of it as furthering their education. No matter what you learn in school, the real world of MT is different. Hands-on experience and asking questions of people in the business: that's how you really learn.
I've been training a friend of a friend since April. Just in the last couple of weeks I've finally seen some progress from her. She told me she's been averaging about 50 cents an hour, which is probably just about what most of us earned when we first started out. However, she's prepared to work for almost nothing as she can see that in the future she will be able to earn more: the old "paying your dues" thing. She also understands that I'm losing time (and time is money) by training her, going over every word she's typed while listing to the dictation, then printing out her work to compare with the finished product, mailing it all to her, and then covering it by phone. This is why I'm hesitant to start someone without experience as an MT. It has nothing to do with not wanting to give someone a chance, but more how to find the time to train a newby. It's a real commitment on the part of the MT as well as the trainee.
My recommendation would be to start at 5c per line if you have to and hone your skills. After a year, use Bill's marketing ideas and sell yourself. By that time you should be selling a finished product and you'll find more doors opening. Good luck!
I live in Central Florida and yes, transcription services pay MTs about 5 to 6 cents a line here, too. Maybe up to 7 cents. That's what I was paid when I moved here in 1989, by the way. Most of these services have not raised their charges at all, either; many clients will drop you like a hot potato to save a cent per line. However, I made about $30K a year, not working real, real hard, and I'm not supertypist.
One thing to watch is how your service counts a line. That's a big question. How do you define that line? Is it 72 characters or 65? Do they pay you for spaces between words, commas, headers, or doctor and patient names? Check into that. Good luck!
No one starting out in this field has experience but it is possible to make the transition from a home-based study course to working, smiling-at-the-bank transcriptionist, and I believe it can be done relatively easily.
First, you must be able to transcribe the most difficult work your class had to offer. You have to be able to research any and every term that might come up, and be sure of its correctness by also researching its context. Your typing skills have to be way up there in speed (or you don't make any money) and you have to be disgustingly intimate with your computer, your word processing program, and all the utilities you (hopefully) have added to your system. You also have to be able to run your business LIKE a business, and not like something you are just doing in your free time. You have to be serious about your new career, and give it your entire devoted attention. There's no substitute.
I think you can get around the "no experience" bugaboo fairly easily by marketing to offices that don't necessarily require a zillion years' experience. Private doctor offices, clinics, urgent-care centers, etc. You can offer to transcribe a test tape (for free) to prove you can do the work. You can also market your PREVIOUS work experience. A professional person is a professional person, and if your test tape is good, you will probably get the job. I agree with listing every blessed thing on your resume that will describe (honestly) who you are, and what you bring to the table in addition to your skills. It's also worth your time to pursue new ideas that your potential clients might want to try, even if it costs you up-front time, it can pay off.
Of course you are not the world's best transcriptionist as you just start ou, but if all of the above are in place, you can do the job, and you can get the jobs. It takes beating the bushes, it takes guts, it takes persistance (above all!!!) but it can happen. In a month I will celebrate the completion of my first year as an MT, and I couldn't be happier with my new career.... and with the income I'm making. Don't give up - get out there and get those clients.
Kim asked about learning to understand doctors from India. I found samples (compare 10 or so) of each doctor helped me to recognize what they were saying by finding the phrases in writing as I listened. Once you learn their common phrases, it's much easier. It is hard to obtain samples, but if you are persistent, you may succeed. It does get easier with getting used to each individual doctor.
You also asked about how to know when you should leave your hospital job and work at home. I knew it was time for me when I got in trouble for refusing to attend a medical records meeting that would affect my line count for the day and thus cost me money, and when the hospital announced they would not yet replace our 10-year-old computers.
You talked about not feeling respected for your work. If you persist in taking pride in your work, you will command respect from others. The challenge is to give them time to know you; consider yourself a spy until you are known and respected for who you are.
It's also a challenge to keep good relating with the MTs who hate their work and for whom it is just another job. They can hate you for loving your work and taking pride in it. Having met those challenges, you will deserve the reward of working from home where you can work in your old clothes, snack all day, use the fastest computer you can afford and use lots of dictionaries!
I'm currently an administrative assistant at UC Davis. After my son was born two years ago, I decided I wanted a job which would allow me to stay at home with him. My sister-in-law has been an MT for at least 10 years, first starting at a local clinic, and now working in her home for a small local service. I thought this would be ideal for me, so I took the medical transcription and terminology courses offered at our local community college. I asked her about opportunities with her employer, and she recommended that I send a letter of interest and resume. My husband wants me to just ask her to talk to her employer, but I don't want to be too pushy, although maybe I should since nothing ever came of the resume. The Sacramento Bee occasionally has ads, but it seems that they all want experience. I can understand this, but how do I get experience if I can't even get a part-time job in the field? There's been one company that has had a long running ad for MTs. I sent them a letter of interest and a resume TWICE. All the local hospitals and clinics either want people with 2-3 years of experience, or they contract out to companies, and they want experienced people. Since I work full-time in Davis, I was interested in working part time at home (nights and weekends) so I could get experienced enough to finally go full time.
I'm feeling very frustrated by the whole thing and I'm not sure what to do. At this point in time I'd be willing to work for practically nothing, just to get the experience. I've heard of places that call in the tapes and then the MT sends back the typed copy by modem, but I don't know how much experience these places want, and if they're willing to work with a "newbie." I have a computer and modem at home, so equipment would be no problem, except for the transcribing equipment (I only have a micro, not a standard machine).
Is there any advice that you can give me on what to do to get started in the field? What am I doing wrong? What else can I do? I'd appreciate any help you could give. Thanks so much.
Use any personal contacts you have in any doctors office, clinic or hospital. The question you want to ask is the same one you asked me...don't ask for a position, ask WHERE CAN I GET A START TO LEARN ON THE JOB? I CAN LEARN FAST! You could even call the employer of your sister-in-law and ask that question, that puts no pressure on them to give you anything. Have your sister-in-law ask any MT friends she knows, or if she is a member of the local group of MTs.
Another approach is to ask if anyone knows an MT who is overwhelmed with work and willing to let you learn on helping with her overflow, which she would have to proofread of course, but at least you would save her some time, and she could pay you less.
Another idea is to visit some doctors offices, talk to the secretary or the office manager and tell them you are a new MT looking for someone who would give you a chance to start. You could offer to do a free trial for a week or so and make it just a trial offer....the experience would be helpful. All you need is one doctor who just lost his MT and knows of no others, who will ask you to pick up the tapes at 5:00 p.m. and get them back by 8:00 a.m. They would perhaps have 20 office notes for one day of patient visits. You could leave your phone number and resume with 10 doctors' office, and suggest they give your name to others as well. You might find an office secretary who is having to do the transcription and is sick of it, and will talk the doctor into letting you take it home so she won't have to do it. Mention the benefits to them of your being independent: no insurance for them to pay, no vacation pay, etc.
If that turns up nothing, see if your sister-in-law will let you help her, or at least listen to her tapes. Keep sharpening your skills, because the longer you have been listening to real dictation, the better. The ear training takes time.
I don't think hospitals or long-distance companies are an option for a first position, though I have heard of it happening rarely. Remember there are psychiatric centers, chiropractors, physical therapists, podiatrists, x-ray and laboratory centers, etc., that are possibilities for a beginning. Going in person and talking to the receptionist or secretary will show them you are a go-getter. Leave a flyer or something fun and don't let them see you discouraged, and picture and pray for just that one door you need! And I will too. There is a great shortage of MTs, partly because it is hard to get experience and yet because you have to learn on the job for a good bit even after training. The pressure to produce is so great, MTs don't have time to train people on the job.
If none of this works, get a job as a doctor's secretary, a unit secretary in a hospital or a secretary in a medical school, and you will likely be able to do some transcription. Even a clerk in a medical records department can move up quickly when abilities are known. You can sneak up to the MT department (sometimes they are combined with medical records) and learn what you can. You've picked a great field! Keep up your courage.
It is best to begin where you have people who can answer your questions and provide dictionaries and equipment, and then you can hope to work from home when you have had some experience. But it is possible to begin on your own if you are ready for the challenge and have MT friends.
You will need a medical spell-checker for your computer ($100), Word Perfect 5.1 (usually), a large medical dictionary ($40), a drug dictionary, a medical word speller by specialties, a laboratory book, and any specialty books that would apply to the area in which you work. You will also need a list of doctors and addresses in the locality you serve.
To work at home, you will need a comfortable chair, a transcribing machine (with ear phones and foot pedal, from $200-500), or a digital transcriber if you are working with that kind of system (from $400-800). It is best not to invest in equipment or software until you have an account so you can get whatever is compatible (tape size, printer, digital, modeming your work back, etc.) and you know you are going to make money with it right away.
You can do a survey of your local area doctors, clinics, hospitals, chiropractors, radiology laboratories, physical therapists and medical transcription services and ask them a list of questions: What kind of equipment they use (tapes or digital)? How much experience do they require? What dictionaries do they use? How can you get a list of local doctors? Do they have pickup and deliver? Do they have on-site transcriptionists or home workers who send their work by modem? The most important question: Do they know anyone who is desperate enough or kind enough to let someone begin and learn on the job? Do they know a transcriptionist who has overflow and might let you practice or help out?
This is very honest work, you only get paid for what you produce (when paid by the line), and it takes very intense concentration to figure out what the doctor is saying. But you will always be learning. Medical science is always expanding and changing.